Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Why Don't You Give Up?

Writing is hard.

Yet easy.

And frustrating.

But wonderful.

If you read enough blogs, follow enough Tweeters (I'm not sure what Twitter-users are called, as you can tell), or scroll through some Facebook statuses, there is a high possibility that you'll 1) become jealous or 2) believe you'll never be a published writer.

I've read agent blogs that tell me how amazingly awesome my story has to be in order to be chosen--plus the market has to be right, plus I must have a platform, etc. All these things make perfect sense. Publishing is a business. A somewhat discouraging business.

This is me (and my sister with her bright blue eyes) at a ballgame when I was a teenager. I like baseball. It's pretty much the only sport I can stand to watch.

But I'm reading. Reading in a stadium full of people watching a ballgame.

Books, writing, reading--those things are a part of me. That sounds cliché, but hey, clichés become cliché for a reason. They're true.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've had some nights where I would lay in bed praying, pleading with God to show me direction. If He didn't want me to write, I asked Him to stop me. To take away the desire.

This happened twice. The days after the prayers, I received two affirmations that I shouldn't give up, one that almost drove me to tears in the bank drive-thru.

The Lord didn't have to bless me with hope, but He cares, folks. He cares in a way that we can't comprehend. He listens. He understands. He's guiding me when I write. He's holding my hand when rejection comes. He's whispering in my ear, "No worries. I've got this."

And He's the only reason I won't give up. I couldn't write a word or come up with a single plot without Him. Each trial reminds me that He's the One who deserves glory. He's the one blessing me. Nothing can happen without His permission. This is His world. If He wants me or you published, He will make that happen if we walk with Him and put in the effort.

Writing is hard. You send your heart out to people who sometimes have to scrape it.